Hello everyone-
I appreciate your support. I heard from Shawna Sullivan, Deputy Commissioner of Public Works and she applied the smoothing analysis and lowered my bill from $15k to $10k. I encourage you to reach out to her
Phone: 617-796-1049 /Email: ssullivan@newtonma.gov and the Mayor rfuller@newtonma.gov-
She responded to each of my points and here is my response. When I get a meeting, I will share with everyone on this thread. Stay the course.
Thanks,
Marc
Hi Shawna-
I appreciate the explanation and ask that I meet with you, the City Councilors and the Mayor. It is unacceptable to present me with a bill for $10k or $15k out of the blue and expect us to sign on the dotted line without any details or discussions in less than 30 days. The following points are what I would like to address in the meeting.
- While I did receive mailers to take a picture of the usage, you can see by the nextdoor posts (84 comments) that many residents never got adjustments when they did send in their readings.
- My primary issue is that we should not bear the burden for Newton’s inability to effectively measure water usage over a four-year period. I certainly would have modified my family’s behavior, gotten an irrigation meter and taken the necessary steps to address this early on. My bill is tripling per your smoothing analysis.
- I would like to see a picture of my water meter ID and the consumption readings – these rates just don’t make sense – the overage is the equivalent of taking 13+ showers a day and when I look at the period between 5/8/21-8/9/21 and 8/9/21-11/9/21, my consumption nearly tripled and remained consistent afterward but my family and I didn’t change our habits??? How do you even project the quarterly allocations if you weren’t able to get the quarterly meter readings and are looking at the beginning and end meter results?
- I had one Newtonian share that they had a similar experience and it turned out you charged them for their neighbor’s meter.
- Johnny’s was interviewed today and said they spend $20k per year on water and sewer. My new bill would come to ~$5k annually. I’m not running a restaurant.
- My understanding was that the City has already paid the MWRA for the last four years in full so where is this ‘found’ money going?
- And given that some people’s bills are changing so drastically, maybe the city needs to reconsider re-evaluating our rates more than once a year or this year?
- And why are Newton’s rates so much higher than the surrounding communities per my petition (now has 240 signatures and counting seeking a forbearance)?
I was on NBC10 Monday, Channel 5 Tuesday, Fox25 tonight and I’m going on CBS tomorrow along with speaking to the Globe. They are all interested in speaking to me because what you are doing is wrong and concessions need to be made. People can’t afford thousands of dollars in fees for something that should be affordable – WATER! Do the right thing for your constituents! Please advise when I can speak to you in person and discuss how you can address this fairly and equitably.
Thanks,
Marc